


Until Deborah Arose

by Daegaer



Series: To Every Man a Damsel or Two [3]
Category: Bible - Fandom, תנ"ך | Tanakh
Genre: Gen, Tanakh - Freeform, iron age Israel, women
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-11
Updated: 2009-03-11
Packaged: 2017-10-11 18:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/115746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is based on the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5. The title is taken from the song of Deborah in Judges 5.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Until Deborah Arose

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5. The title is taken from the song of Deborah in Judges 5.

  
On the night of the new moon, when the household gathered to worship the Host of Heaven, Deborah stood behind Hesedanat, and watched her and the other maidservants offer up their cakes and prayers. A man from the king's own house had offered sacrifice on their behalf in the great temple of the Lord Hadad, Yashion had told them earlier, with pride in his voice that Naaman was thought of so highly. He was not on the rooftop now; he and Naaman were both in the house so that they would not profane the roof altar, for the gods would not hear the prayers of lepers and eunuchs.

"Great Lady!" Hesedanat said, raising her hands to heaven, "Make my husband clean! Grant me a son, to do us honour at our grave, when the day of fate overtakes us. Let us lie together in the grave at last, Great Lady, when his bones at least will be free of disease." She tore her veil, the latest gift from her husband, the delicate threads of red and gold drifting away in the cold night air. "I am almost twenty winters old, Great Lady," she said in a low and desperate voice. "I have prayed to you without ceasing, all these years - will you not reveal my husband's sin, so he may make restitution and be cleansed?" She stood abruptly, and turned her back to the altar. "Make offerings, those of you who will," she said, and looked at Deborah from eyes that seemed dark holes in her face, the kohl was so streaked with tears. "Do you want to offer a cake, child?" she said, in a poor attempt at her usual kindness.

Deborah shook her head, wondering if she should touch her mistress, if that would make her seem less like a taut-bent bow.

"No matter," Hesedanat said. "The gods do not listen. I do not think they are even there. I will die a desolate woman, a married maiden in my husband's house, and our names will go down to dust, forgotten. Better I should throw myself down from the roof this night than endure another shameful day." She paused; her face cleared, like one who has heard the answer to a prayer, and she ran for the parapet.

"Lady, no!" Deborah cried, and sprang after her. She caught Hesedanat's robe as she leapt, pulling at her so the young woman could not clear the parapet entirely, but lay precariously across it, her head aimed at the courtyard below, her legs still on the roof, Deborah's slight weight balancing them both.

"Let me fall," Hesedanat said quietly. "Deborah, let me fall, don't try to pull me back lest you fall too."

"No! If you don't want me to fall, you have to come back!" Deborah cried, feeling her feet leave the ground as the spirits of the earth pulled Hesedanat towards her fate. It seemed an eternity before she heard the other servants call out in alarm and rush to help, though she knew later it was but moments. "Please, Hesedanat," she said, and felt the woman's surrender as other, stronger hands pulled them both to safety. The other maids lifted their voices in alarm and fear, reproaching Hesedanat in one breath and praising the Lady Asherah in the next that she had not fallen. Deborah clung to her like a child to its mother, feeling her body shake as Hesedanat cried as if she were the girl seized and taken away from all hope of rescue. They were both Naaman's captives she thought, and put her lips against Hesedanat's ear.

"I will save you," she whispered. "I know how your husband can be cleansed of his sin."

Hesedanat stilled in her arms, then said,

"What god has told you? They are all liars."

"The god of my people," Deborah whispered. "There is a man of God in Israel who would cure lord Naaman in the blink of an eye."

"Why would an Israelite god heal a lord of Damascus?" Hesedanat said.

Deborah thought of the fierce appearance of the man of God, how he had extolled the might of the Lord Yahveh, how he had mocked the Lady Asherah and the Lord Hadad as dust beneath Lord Yahveh's feet. "To show he can do what the gods of Damascus can't," she said, and waited to be struck down for her insolence at the altar of the Host of Heaven.

"For pride's sake, if not for mercy," Hesedanat said slowly. "Yes. That sounds like a man." She climbed to her feet and drew a deep breath. She did not wipe the smudged kohl from under her eyes, nor did she straighten her dusty garments. She took Deborah by the hand and marched down the stairs, followed by her maidservants. She led them right to the door of Naaman's own chamber, and set her own hand to the latch.

Inside, Naaman and Yashion sat, Yashion recalling the deeds of Naaman's mother. In the privacy of his room Naaman had set aside his head covering, and he now flung up his hands in horror and shame to shield them from the sight of his face.

"Lady!" Yashion cried, interposing himself between her and his master, as if he were protecting a child. Two of the maidservants reached out and drew him aside, gently enough.

"Husband," Hesedanat said. "You must listen to what I have to say."

Deborah marveled at the way he sat there, timid and silent in the face of the massed women of his house.

  


* * *

"Lady, lady! A messenger has come from the king's house! Lord Naaman has returned!"

Hesedanat looked at the maid, her face blank for a moment, then she twisted her hands in worry as she had not done in all the weeks since her husband had set out for Israel.

"When shall he come to the house?" she asked.

"He has been with the king for two days," the maidservant said, excited to bear such news, "He will come to his house today - _now,_ the king's messenger says."

"Now," Hesedanat breathed, then sat straighter and clapped her hands. "Quick! Throw open all the windows, and let the cooks be told to make a feast ready! Be sure that the new coverings and bed in my lord husband's chambers are fresh and clean, _hurry_!"

She stood and paced back and forth, unable to keep still, Deborah saw. What would happen, Deborah thought in fear, if he was not made whole? What would be done to her? She felt ashamed to have less faith than a woman of Damascus.

"Deborah," Hesedanat said. "Deborah!" She took Deborah's hands in her own, the excitement fading from her face to show fear for a brief moment, and Deborah knew they shared the same hope and terror. "Whatever happens," Hesedanat said, "Whatever _has_ happened, you are from this moment on a daughter of the house. Do you understand? You are not a slave any more."

"Lady," Deborah whispered, "Thank you."

"Let us wait, and hope," Hesedanat said, putting an arm about her, and turning them both towards the open windows.

In the distance, coming closer, they could hear music.

  
[Image source](http://freegroups.net/photos/The-Coloured-Picture-Bible-for-Children/)


End file.
